The easiest way to improve your life is to write down your principles and stick to them.

Principles are concise statements that provide specific instructions once read.

They’re timeless, deep and profound.

For example:

Mood follows action.

You cannot think your way into acting better, but you can act your way into thinking better.

Go first, go positive and be constant in doing it.

Want nothing + do anything = have everything.

But most importantly, your principles resonate with you.

Without them, you’re lost; pulled in every direction by the infinite thoughts, emotions and external events that conspire to throw you off balance.

Without them you don't know how to act; instead you're enticed by other people's values, doomed to follow their footsteps because "why not? Everyone else is doing x".

Principles are like a lighthouse in a storm: when the weather changes and the sea gets rough, you can’t rely on every wave pattern or prediction. But the lighthouse is a fixed point that keeps you oriented and safe.

The unprincipled life is not worth living.

Why is this important?

The principles you stick to determine your level of consciousness.

(From: The Map of Consciousness Explained: A Proven Energy Scale to Actualize Your Ultimate Potential (David R. Hawkins)).

So if you want to change your life and ascend higher, pick a principle that you think is slightly above where you want to be right now and strive to live in line with it.

In your striving, you will change. As you change, your level of consciousness will rise. As your level of consciousness rises, life will switches to easy mode, your emotions delight you and life improves... Drastically.

“An individuals level of consciousness is determined by the principles they’re committed to. To maintain progress in consciousness, there can be no wavering about principle, or the individual will fall back to a lower level.” - David Hawkins

Principles also provide you with certainty in an uncertain world because you either follow a principle or not.

There's no grey area.

So the practical takeaway from this letter is: take a moment to think about the principles you want guiding your behaviour. Write them down. Obsess over them. And read them whenever you're stuck, confused or need to realign.

Your principles could cover the contexts of:

- Health

- Social life

- Decision making

- Or any other contexts that strike you as important right now

We'll now finalise this letter with a list of some of my favourite principles to inspire the choice of your own.

Feel free to add any you find useful to your list.

Mental health:

Mood follows action.

To have peace of mind you need peace of body first.

You cannot think your way into acting better, but you can act your way into thinking better.

The order you give your evenings is the strength you feel in the mornings.

Motivation:

When there’s no wind start rowing.

Social life:

Tension is who you think you should be, relaxation is who you are.

Your dance moves might not be the best, but I promise you, making a fool of yourself is more fun than sitting on the bench alone.

Don’t talk about old friends when with new friends.

Go first, go positive and be constant in doing it.

If you have to say you are, you aren’t.

Don’t cut what can be untied.

Don’t remove a fly from your friend’s forehead with a hammer.

Conflict:

Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.

If you hate a person then you are defeated by them.

Stand up to bullies. You only have to do it once.

If you’ve made your point, stop talking.

Don’t expect honesty from people who lie to themselves.

Never wrestle with a pig. Because if you do, you’ll get dirty & the pig will enjoy it.

If you’re speaking & people aren’t listening to you, stop talking.

The only way to handle danger is to face it. Run to trouble.

If evil be spoken of you & it’s true; correct yourself. If it is a lie, laugh at it.

When you feel attacked, ask yourself what the person is trying to tell you. Don’t make it all about you.

“If I could give you what you wanted right now in the context of this argument and I wasn’t doing it in a manipulative way, what is it that I would have to say or do that would in principle satisfy you?”

Closing loops:

If their absence brings you peace, you didn’t lose them.

Never cut what you can untie.

Let go or be dragged.

Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes back in another form.

Be done with people. Not mad, not bothered. Done.

Not grasping, absent-mindedly. But letting go, smilingly.

The past can often come dressed as inviting nostalgia, or a missed opportunity. But it is what it is; the past.

Stop trying to make sense of another’s absence.

The desire to stay put is greatest the closer you are to the ending of something. Forget this nonsense & continue in the direction of your decision.

Decision making:

If its not a hell yeah its a no.

If you’re stuck between 2 paths, pick the one more painful in the short term.

No one has a gun to your head.

Courage:

Things are always scarier before they occur.

Its either a good time or a good story.

It's scary because its unfamiliar, not because you're incapable.

Ambition:

Never pick unripe fruit.

Never show people how hard you’re working.

Make haste slowly.

Never set a pace you can’t keep.

Desire:

The feelings are often more intense the thinner a desire is.

Sunshine all the time makes a desert.

Don’t promise what you don’t yet have.

The grass is greener wherever you choose to water it.

If you accomplish something good, the labour passes but the good endures. If you do something shameful in pursuit of pleasure, the pleasure passes quickly but the shame endures. (Musonius Rufus)

Problem solving:

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.

When you hit a wrong note, it’s the next note that makes it bad or good. (Miles Davis)

Losing is not the same as being defeated.

It's better to go wrong in your own way than right in someone else’s.

Everything is figureoutable.

When you make a wrong move = you’ve paid the price for growth.

Worry:

Ask; “what is the worst that can possibly happen?” > prepare to accept it > then calmly proceed to improve on the worst.

So choose your principles. And strive to live in line with them.

And remember: sometimes you may fail your principles, but they'll never fail you.

That's all for this week.

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Behind the scenes...

I’ve been trying to figure out why my newsletters keep going to your spam box + the website went down today because ya boi was fiddling behind the scenes and messed something up ☠️😭.

Never a dull moment.

If you could report this email as not spam (if google shows you that message) that'd be great.

Anyway, it’s still not too late to join the Go First waiting list to become a social interaction initiating pro (plus you’ll learn how to trade your social anxiety for genuine confidence + a lot more).

I’ll also be sending the first behind the scenes email to the list soon.

Hope you’re having a good week.

But if not, no biggie.

Lew

P.s. emails currently aren't coming through to the lewis@newelofknowledge.com email, so if you're trying to get hold of me you won't be able to until I fix it. No idea how but there's a way.

P.s.s put book shelf closer 2 board.

‍